From a TV-obsessed cat to toilet-training rabbits — your pet queries answered

HE is on a mission to assist our pets . . . and is right here to reply YOUR questions.

Sean, who’s the top vet at tailor-made pet meals agency tails.com, has helped with homeowners’ queries for ten years. He says: “In case your pet is performing humorous or is below the climate, otherwise you wish to find out about vitamin or train, simply ask. I will help preserve pets comfortable and wholesome.”

5 Sean says some cats are simply house birds and don’t look after the outside Credit score: Getty

5 Sean McCormack, head vet at tails.com, guarantees he can ‘assist preserve pets comfortable and wholesome’ Credit score: Doug Seeburg – The Solar

Q) OUR cat hates going exterior. It’s like he’s agoraphobic.

I don’t wish to drive it, however certainly, like us, he must get some contemporary air. He simply watches daytime TV, eats and sleeps.

Maggie O’Brien, Dundee

Sean says: Some cats are simply house birds and don’t look after the outside.

With a little bit of creativeness, you possibly can present the whole lot they want indoors, together with scratching posts, locations to cover, climbing frames and tunnels.

Toys and playtime are vital to encourage them to be energetic.

I want I could possibly be a cat — watching daytime TV, consuming, sleeping, having somebody cater to my each whim.

It’s a must to admit, he’s received it made.

Q) MY son’s one-year-old boxer Georgie received into the backyard’s solely massive planter, which has small shrubs and bedding crops.

The remainder of the backyard is decked and laid to garden. Georgie has tried to eat a few of the contents and my son is afraid to plant it up once more in case any of them are toxic.

Why is Georgie doing this and what might be completed to cease him?

Vince Marsh, Ramsgate, Kent

Bought a query for Sean? SEND your queries to vet@the-sun.co.uk

Sean says: I’d recommend this is because of a mix of boredom and mischief.

It’s enjoyable to dig if you’re a canine. Why not redirect this behaviour by offering Georgie with a sand pit digging zone?

Bury his toys in there, reward him for digging the place he’s presupposed to and divert him to it when he seems like he needs to dig up your planters.

Prohibit entry to them at first and use reward-based coaching. He’ll get the image very quickly.

Additionally take a look at our tails.com weblog for an inventory of dangerous backyard crops to keep away from.

Q) IS it potential to coach a rabbit to make use of a litter field? I’m considering of getting a home rabbit, however would they be happier exterior?

Lisa Downs, Brighton

Sean says: It’s not solely potential, it’s truly fairly simple. Rabbits are very clear creatures and like to go away their droppings in distinguished places in neat piles to sign their presence to different rabbits.

On that be aware, it’s at all times advisable to get two rabbits. They’re social creatures and it’s actually not honest to have one alone.

Again to rest room coaching. It’s often completed by offering them with a cat litter tray or field full of a rabbit-safe, digestible litter (simply in case they chew some).

Begin with it in a nook of their small enclosure indoors. As soon as they’re used to it, they’ll return to it, even when they’re free-roaming in the home.

Take care to rabbit-proof the house, together with defending cables they may chew and lifting crops off the ground to allow them to’t eat them.

Home rabbits do nice so long as you enable them to do rabbity issues indoors. An outside run for supervised out of doors exercise also needs to be supplied if in case you have a backyard.

5 Tails.com supplies tailored dietary meals for pets

Q) I WOULD like two puppies however not on the identical time – clearly for coaching causes.

I’m trying to get an English bull terrier and cockapoo. However which breed can we get first and what number of months later ought to we introduce the opposite one?

Tracy Jones, Crewe

Sean says: You’re proper to keep away from getting them on the identical time.

They’ll have little give attention to you, paying extra consideration to one another. It’s known as littermate syndrome however doesn’t must be littermates, simply similar-aged pups.

They’re additionally very completely different canines to coach and personal, with English bull terriers being arguably extra cussed and difficult for novices.

Cockapoos have all of the intelligence of poodles and the excessive power of cocker spaniels, so you take on quite a bit.

My recommendation can be cockapoo first, and take into consideration a second as soon as she or he is settled and aged two or extra.

STAR OF THE WEEK

5 Echo the kitty has discovered her purr after she was rescued from an deserted home with a hoard of different cats

ECHO the kitty has discovered her purr after she was rescued from an deserted home with a hoard of different cats.

The 16-month-old was saved by the RSPCA Headcorn Cattery in Kent and given a brand new house in Sevenoaks with Carrie Greenstreet, 45.

After seven months, Echo has realized to be joyful once more. Carrie mentioned: “Echo has only recently began purring as she is comfortable now, after her powerful begin in life.

“As a result of she was deserted, it took her three months to be taught to belief once more and she or he’s nonetheless frightened of strangers, however Echo has turn out to be essentially the most loving cat I’ve ever had.”

WIN: PET ADOPTION BOOK WE’VE teamed up with Prestel to supply 21 readers the possibility to win a duplicate of wonderful new guide My Canine, Hen, by David Waterproof coat, price £11.99. Exploring the adventures of adopting a rescue pet, it supplies a mild lesson to find worth within the undesirable. For an opportunity to win a duplicate, ship an electronic mail headed MYDOGHEN to sundaypets@the-sun.co.uk by November 27. For stockists, see prestel.com. T&Cs apply.

Porridge’s fortunate litter escape

5 Seven-year-old Staffordshire bull terrier Porridge was saved after he wolfed a McDonald’s candy & bitter dip sauce pot on a stroll

VETS have issued a warning to litterbugs as a result of it places each pets and wildlife susceptible to loss of life and hurt.

The RSPCA will get, on ­common, ten calls day by day for animals affected by litter.

Vets4Pets urges individuals to watch out about the place they put their garbage when out and about.

Seven-year-old Staffordshire bull terrier Porridge is the most recent pup to have been saved, after he wolfed a McDonald’s candy & bitter dip sauce pot on a stroll.

He was rushed to Vets4- Pets Barnsley Hospital in South Yorks, the place the group first tried to take away the packaging by inducing vomiting, earlier than making the choice to carry out an endoscopy.

Dr Caroline Richards, who led the group that saved him mentioned: “It’s fortunate that ­Porridge’s proprietor noticed him consuming the packaging.

“If it wasn’t for a neighborhood litterbug, Porridge might have averted his journey to see us.

“We hope his story exhibits how harmful litter might be for pets, and makes individuals suppose twice earlier than dropping garbage.”

Based on Caroline, that is removed from the strangest merchandise the vet group has seen a canine eat, including: “From Christmas baubles to kids’s toys, and even underwear, we’ve seen all of it”